The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-26
A SHOT AND A THRUST.
BY AN RX.REBRL.

When we came to throw out pickets in front of our lines on the night after dealing the Federal army the hard blow at Second Manassas, we were right among the dead and wounded. We had won victory, and the bulk of the Federal army was making for the Potomac, but there was a rear guard which fought sullenly and with a thirst for vengeance, and along the front of my division the blue-coats were alert and ready for any night att tack. It was about nine o'clock in the evening when my company was pushed out, and to get the place assigned Us we had to crawl on our hands and knees for the last two hundred feet. When finally got settled in place it was at the base of shade or fruit tree standing alone in an open field. A ball or shell had struck the trunk of the tree and cut it in two, and DOT tion of the top lay on the ground. The Federal picket, as presently as- certained, was about fifty feet distant from me, and had the cover of heap of.rails. 1 did not locate him until he fired upon me. do not think he knew of my presence, but rather mis- trusted it and blazed away to draw me out.
 There were dead and wounded all about the tree. l had crept over two dead bodies, and two wounded men had begged me for water, and, al- though the evening was very dusky, I could count at least ten bodies on my side of the tree. 1 had come out with a full canteen, knowing that the front was covered with wounded. Close to me, on my right, was Federal cor poral belonging to New York regi- ment. He told me at the time the number of his regiment, but made no note of it. He was shot in the right leg, midway between the hip and the knee. This happened two hours before dark, and considerably nearer our lines, and he had managed to crawl twenty rods to get the shelter of the tree. It was only flesh wound and could he have been taken into the lines that night he would have been fit for duty in thirty days. Some men would have almost walked off with such hurt as that, but the poor fel- low seemed knocked all to pieces and had quite lost his courage. I was holding the canteen to his lips, having raised his head and put haversack under it, when the Federal picket fired the shot. The bullet crashed into the head of the wounded man, and with sort of quiver he fell back dead
 The incident upset me considerably, and, being under orders not to fire u shot unless the enemy were advancing, l hugged the ground at the foot of the tree and remained quiet. Two more shots were fired at me, but they were aimed too high and went over. had been on duty about an hour, when the pleadings of a wounded man about fifty feet to my left for water determined me to succor him. He knew Of my presence and talked di- rectly to me, saying that he was shot in both legs and had been lying there seven or eight hours. left my gun on the ground and started off on my hands and knees. The corpse of Fed eral lay directly in my way, and I was just making half circle around it, when the supposed dead man scram- bled up, seized his musket, which lay beside him, and whirled on me with a sort of scream. You see, 1t all came so suddenly that I was confused, and when he came at me was still on my hands and knees and helpless He held the gun at "charge bayonets" and made an awful lunge at me. The point of the bayonet passed through the back ot my blouse, and the lunge pushed me over and the steel went into the ground almost to the muzzle of the gun. l was thus pinned to the earth, and the man let go of the mus ket and fell across me, uttering groan of pain as he came down.
 My position was such that could not free myself for two or three min- utes, and when did the man was dead for sure. He bad probably been unconscious for long time before the frenzy of death caused him to attack me in the singular manner he did. So firmly was pinned to the earth that l had to "skin" out of my blouse to get free, and it took a stout twist at the butt of the musket to pull the bayonet out of the hard baked soil.- Detroit Free Press.